Star Trek: A Fear Faced
by Kehlan
Summary: A Fear Faced is still fear! Fleet Captain Kehlan must face her greatest fear when an Arachnid comes on board the Starbase.
1. Chapter 1

The final rivet shot home with a satisfying clunk. "Nearly finished" Kehlan said cheerfully, wiping the sweat away from her brow as she stepped back to take a look at her work. "We'll be ready to take it out for a test flight soon."

Khetara extinguished the flame on the welding tool she held in her hand and removing the visor she'd been wearing to protect her eyes, she stepped back to join Kehlan. "Hmm" she said thoughtfully, "the question is – which of us gets to test fly it?"

"Well, it isn't going to be me" Chrissie said laughing as she put down her own tools. "There's no way I'm going to fly that thing! I don't mind helping build it but I'm not suicidal!"

"I'll volunteer" Draka said, a note of anticipation in her voice, "So which of you is going to join me?"

The project had begun as a joking challenge, nearly six months ago. They'd been sitting in the Blooded Targ, drinking the inevitable chocolate blood-wine when a slightly inebriated marine engineer had started making disparaging remarks about the abilities of his female colleagues. Surprisingly, it had been Chrissie who was the first to take offence, the irate human woman rashly making the counterclaim that anything the guys could do, the girls could do better! Kehlan had been quick to back up her Terran friend and Draka and Khetara had somehow got dragged into it as well.

The four women stood side by side now, admiring their creation. It had taken them months to get this far, coordinating their duty shifts and working in between missions, but finally the replica biplane, a copy of the first planes ever flown on Earth, was almost ready to leave its home in the corner of shuttle bay six and be taken down to Frontera for its first flight. If all went well, they would win their bet. If not… Kehlan refused to consider that possibility. The plane would fly!

"I will" Kehlan and Khetara both spoke at exactly the same moment. They glared at each other and Khetara bared her teeth.

Any argument between the two friends was rendered academic for now as Kehlan's com badge bleeped.

"Ops to Fleet Captain Kehlan"

"Kehlan here" she responded. "What do you want?"

"Captain there is a ship approaching the starbase" the young lieutenant on communications duty hesitated and when he finally continued, his voice sounded nervous. "The pilot requests docking privileges and is asking for you personally"

"Who is it?" Kehlan asked, impatient and a little annoyed. She'd been enjoying some rare off duty time with her friends and was not happy about being disturbed.

If the communications officer had been nervous before, he sounded positively frightened now. "Captain, it's an Arachnid ship – Tarantula class."

An Arachnid ship? Caught by surprise, Kehlan froze, suddenly understanding all too well just what was freaking out the lieutenant. What was an Arachnid doing here and what did it want with her. There would be only one on board the ship, Kehlan knew, although in her mind one was more than enough. The Tarantula class ships – for some reason the Arachnids had named their ship classes after the various types of Terran spiders – were single man fighters. Not that 'man' was a very appropriate term, Kehlan thought, unable to prevent herself from shuddering as she asked "when is it due to arrive?"

"In two minutes, Captain" the lieutenant responded.

Two minutes. In just two minutes, Kehlan was going to have to face her greatest fear. She'd always been terrified of spiders, ever since that day, shortly after she had arrived at the orphanage on Qo'noS. Three years old and only just beginning to learn the Klingon language, she had not understood what her tormentors had wanted of her. Not quick enough to do whatever it was they had wanted, they had punished her by locking her in a cupboard. She could still remember the darkness, the feeling of stifling claustrophobia and then the sensation of something moving across her skin…

"Kehlan?"

She looked up, to see her friends staring at her, expressions of concern on their faces.

"You all right?" It was Draka that asked the question but it was obvious to Kehlan that Draka was speaking on behalf of Khetara and Chrissie as well.

"Of course I'm all right" Kehlan snapped, angry both with herself for being afraid and with them for noticing her reaction. She was a Klingon warrior and she felt shamed by her fear. Turning away from them, she took a deep breath and tried to pull herself together. It was not as if it was the first time she had met the Arachnids after all, and she'd survived that encounter. She'd survive this one as well.

Realising that the communications officer was still waiting for a reply from her, Kehlan instructed him, "Send it in to dock at shuttle bay six." Not bothering to wait for the lieutenant's acknowledgement, she cut the connection.


	2. Chapter 2

Number six was the smallest and quietest of the shuttle-bays and when the news got round that the Arachnid ship was coming in there, it rapidly became even quieter as everyone who could find an excuse or a reason to be elsewhere, got out of the way.

The alarm sounded, warning all present that the great shuttle bay doors were opening, only the immensely powerful force-field protecting the starbase from explosive decompression. In less than a minute, the doors were fully open, framing the vast blackness of space and in the distance, like a living jewel, Frontera. The view was beautiful and at any other time, it was one that Kehlan found breathtaking. Now though, she could focus on nothing more than the approaching ship.

Arachnid vessels were like nothing the Federation had ever designed. Of course, Kehlan thought, when the designers had eight legs and could walk on the ceiling, it was inevitable that they would have different priorities when it came to ship building. Roughly triangular in shape with slender wing-like appendages on either side, eight of them in total, it reminded Kehlan of a mechanical, yet oddly graceful spider.

The doors of the Arachnid ship slid open with a faint, barely audible hissing sound. For several long moments there was no further movement from the ship and Kehlan let out the breath than she hadn't even realised she was holding. Then she felt it. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, her skin crawling as it always did when she was anywhere near a spider. It was coming.

A leg was the first thing to become visible in the open doorway. Long, slender, segmented, with a thick coating of fine black hairs. Then a second leg came into view. It seemed to pause for a moment and then with shocking suddenness it was visible in its entirety.

It was small for one of its race, Kehlan noted, a very young member of its species, its body standing maybe three feet off the ground. Thick black fur covered its body, with dark chestnut brown patterning across its hide. Like the rest of its kind, it wore what could only be described as a harness. Made from spider silk, it shimmered with the crystals woven into it, the pattern denoting status and high rank.

Kehlan noted also that the Arachnid was male, the sex evident from the shape of the palps on either side of its fanged mouth. Suddenly, with a sense of impending doom, she knew not only who it was, but why it was here looking for her.

It had happened a year ago. Her ship had got into trouble, serious trouble. If the Arachnid female hadn't sacrificed herself, then Endeavour and every one of the seven hundred and fifty two people on board her would have been killed. And who knew how many other innocent souls might have been killed by the pirates if they had been allowed to escape and continue their depredations?

Kehlan remembered how the Arachnid had brought her little ship into the hangar bay. No-one had wanted to go near it. To tell the truth, neither had Kehlan, but she couldn't afford to lose the respect of her crew by letting them see her fear. So she'd gone in and she'd spoken with the Arachnid. And then…. She shuddered as she remembered…

It was all Kehlan could do to hold her ground as the massive Arachnid female approached her and held out the object to her. Very slowly, almost against her will, Kehlan reached out and took it. Even in her fear, she noted with appreciation that the Arachnid was careful not to touch her as she placed whatever it was she was carrying in Kehlan's outstretched arms.

Carefully, cautiously, Kehlan unwrapped the object, peeling back the layers of silken fabric to reveal… well, she was not actually sure what it was. Round and a little smaller than a Terran football, it glistened with an opalescent sheen. It was warm and slightly soft, its texture that of rubber and as Kehlan's fingers brushed across it, it seem to pulse in recognition of her touch.

"What is it?" Kehlan had to ask the question, although the truth was that she as not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

The Arachnid made a soft chittering sound and Kehlan realised it - no, she corrected herself - she, was laughing at her. "It is my child."

Kehlan froze. She couldn't help it. An egg? She was holding in her hands, actually touching, a very large spider's egg! Every instinct she possessed was screaming at her to drop it and run. She looked again at the egg and then at its mother, for the first time noticing that despite the laughter, the Arachnid's voice was tinged with sadness.

"Take it to my homeworld" the female Arachnid said, "Give it to the Great Mother. Will you do this for me?"

Kehlan shuddered. Go to Arachnia? Never in her worst nightmares had she ever thought she would have to visit that world. And to not only go there but to have to face the Great Mother? Oh yes, Kehlan knew that term – it referred to the ruling female, the largest, oldest and most powerful of all the Arachnids. She couldn't do it! She knew she couldn't do it! She also knew that she had no choice. This was a mother, entrusting Kehlan with her only offspring. She took a deep breath and committed herself. "I will do it."

The female Arachnid seemed to relax as Kehlan made her promise. She knew what this had cost the Klingon female. Arachnia was generally off limits to Federation personnel and for good reason. Not all the inhabitants of that world were intelligent and those that were not, were dangerous. Quite apart from that, her kind inspired too much fear in the bipedal humanoid races. Maybe one day the humanoids would learn to see past the physical differences and there would be true friendship between their races. She herself would not live to see it, but the bond that she knew would form between this Klingon and her child, would be the beginning of it.

Moving slowly and carefully, so that she would not frighten Kehlan, the arachnid turned to re-enter her shuttle, each of her eight legs working together to bear her immense weight.

"You don't need to do this, you know" Kehlan said suddenly, "There's got to be an alternative, some other way. We could rig up a remote control, automate the shuttle. You don't need to sacrifice yourself."

The Arachnid paused, turning her gaze on Kehlan, her multi-faceted eyes shining like black diamonds as she focused on the Klingon captain. "Arachnid vessels cannot be automated in the way that you suggest. I will do my duty" There was a finality to her words that forbade further discussion. Raising one segmented foreleg, she gestured towards the precious burden in Kehlan's arms. "As I expect you to do yours!"

With that, no longer concerned about the fear she knew she inspired, the massive Arachnid turned and with the lightening speed that was characteristic of her kind, she crossed the floor of the hangar bay and re-entered her craft.


	3. Chapter 3

Shivering again, Kehlan forced her mind back to the present as she watched the Arachnid walk down the ramp, each of its eight legs moving seemingly independently of each other yet cooperating to keep its body perfectly balanced.

Khetara turned to Draka, barely able to repress the shudder that was threatening to run through her body. "We need bigger bug swatters!" she muttered.

Draka could only nod in agreement as the biggest spider she had ever seen began to move towards them. No, she reminded herself, it was an Arachnid, not a spider. There was a difference. She'd heard of this race but never expected to meet one; they did not often come into the Federation, knowing that the majority of bipedal races were both terrified and repulsed by them.

Chrissie was nearest to the Arachnid. Slowly and carefully it approached her until it stood in front of her. Instinctively she took a step backwards, her body rigid with a sudden irrational fear. She was not normally bothered by spiders but this one was big, very big. Sensing her nervousness, Krang stepped closer to his wife, placing a hand on her shoulder. "He won't hurt you" Krang told her reassuringly but despite his words, his other hand rested on his knife ready to protect her should it become necessary.

Kehlan glanced across at Krang in surprise. When had he arrived? She hadn't heard or seen him come into the shuttle-bay. Well no wonder, she thought, her attention had been focussed on the Arachnid that even now, was moving away from Chrissie and towards Khalessa, somehow knowing that the human woman was not the person it was looking for.

Khetara's gaze never left the massive Arachnid and as it moved towards her, she remained very still, her body tense, ready to defend herself and her friends if it turned out this… thing… was not friendly. It stopped in front of her, just as it had done with Chrissie, uncomfortably close yet not quite touching her.

Its palps twitched and some instinct told Khetara it was testing her scent. What could it smell, she wondered? Not fear - wariness maybe but not fear. She did not like spiders, hated them in fact. The spiders indigenous to Qo'noS were large, although admittedly nothing like the size of this one, and many of them were dangerous. But fear? No, she was not afraid of spiders.

Khetara was also aware that each of its eyes - and she counted eight of them, arranged around the top of its head so it could see in just about every direction - were focussed on her. Its posture had changed subtly; the Arachnid was no longer relaxed but tense, prepared for hostility and belatedly Khetara recalled an article she had read about this species shortly after first contact had been made. Arachnids were sensitive to even the slightest vibrations, including sound. There was no way it could have avoided hearing her earlier comment.

Emitting a low growling sound, the Arachnid stepped back slightly, moving away from Khetara. It hesitated for a moment, as though deciding which of the remaining women to approach next then inevitably, as she had known it would, it approached Kehlan.

Adrenaline coursed through Kehlan's body as the fight or flight impulse took hold of her – with a strong emphasis on flight! For a moment, her mind went back to that long ago day, to the thing - things actually, there had been more than one of them - that had been in that cupboard with her. By the time one of the supervisors had found her, she had been a complete wreck, huddled in a corner, her voice hoarse from screaming and her fingers a bloody mess from scratching at the door in a frantic, futile attempt to get out.

The Arachnid could smell her fear, she knew, it must be able to smell it. To her shame and anger, terror was a better word for what she felt. It stopped short, coming nowhere near as close to her as it had to the other two. Oh yes, it knew!

Almost, she let out a whimper. Almost, but not quite. Furious with herself now, she fought for control and turned to face her fear. "_Tlhingan jiH!"_ she muttered under her breath, "I am Klingon!"

Its movements slow and deliberate, the Arachnid stepped closer to her and Kehlan realised it was trying its best not to frighten her further. It made a chittering sound - not the aggressive growl that it given Khetara - this was a softer sound that was almost reassuring in its tone.

To Kehlan's surprise the Arachnid stepped back again and turned towards the final member of the group. Now it was Draka's turn to stand still as the great Arachnid tested her scent. Draka stood calmly. She did not fear the Arachnid, it was a sentient being, albeit a very different one. But she was a little unsure of what to do. So she waited.

The Arachnid spent only the briefest moment in front of Draka before turning away from her, as she had guessed it would. She was not the person it sought. They had been told that it was looking for Kehlan and indeed, its reaction to Kehlan had been different to the other two. Why then had it bothered to approach Draka at all, she wondered, if it had already made its choice? The answer to that, she suspected, was very simple. It had not wanted to be rude in missing her out.

Having made its choice, the Arachnid turned back from Draka and retraced its steps towards Kehlan. It stood in front of her for a moment, testing her scent again before making that soft chittering sound again, indicating its satisfaction. It spoke then for the first time, in Federation Standard, its voice that sibilant whisper that had haunted Kehlan's dreams since her first encounter with the Arachnids. "Hello mother!"

The End?


End file.
